Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1999 - 63

Likewise, tlus is a place for commentary about
peer observations of your teaching. Perhaps as
importantly, any classroom assessments you
have done, as described in "Digging Deeper
Into Your Course, ,. should be gathered and reflected on here.
The final section is a summary of the activities and plans you make to improve your
teaching. By continually updating your course
portfolio, course changes are tracked, and future plans are available for reference when
you need them ..

Evolution, not Revolution
Several portfolios for different courses, primarily used for improving teaching, can be combined into a larger teaching portfolio of all
your teaching responsibilities. Ateaching portfolio, too, may be used to improve teaching by
gi\~ng you a global picture of yourself as
teacher, or it may be used summatively to
document how you prO\~de effective teaching
to the institution that pays your salary.
Like our design and technology portfolios, our teaching portfolios should be constantly evolving. The first works-in-progress
are, as in our art form, more for our own development than for audience criticism. As you
develop your teaching portfolio, it should begin to reflect back to you an ever clearer image
of the self-that-teaches.
When is it time to share that image \vith
others? Tlus is a very personal decision. The
portfolio is yours and willie some institutions
now mandate portfolios for promotion and/or
tenure, what's included should be under your
control. By beginning to gather and shape your
portfolio now you can create a meaningful picture for self reflection. Even if your portfolio
remains an unfinished work-in-progress
shared with a circle of trusted colleagues, then
the discussions that happen wlule bUilding it
will enrich your teaching life. And if you are
persistent enough to complete the portfolio,
then when someone asks you to describe your
work you can show them a picture that has the
integrity of your whole self behind it. .:.

faculty participants. He is a member ofthe
Pelllls),lvania Association ofTeacher/
Scholars, tbe POD Network, and the
American Associationfor Higber Education.
He is also the associate artistic director of
Keystone RepertolJ' Theatre, a professional
summer theatre in residence at IUP.

REFERENCES
Angelo, Thomas and K. Patricia Cross. Classroom Assessment Tecbniques: A Handbookfor College Teachers. San
Francisco: lossey-Bass, 1994.
Cashin, Willianl. Student Ratings ofTeaching:
The Researcb Revisited Idea Paper #32,
Kansas State University, 1994.
Centra, lohn A. Reflective Faculty Evaluation. San Francisco: lossey-Bass, 1993.
Cerbin, William. "The Course Portfolio as a
Tool for Continuous Improvement of
Teaching and Learning."joul'11al on Excellence in College Teaching 5 (994):
95-105.
Cross, K. Patricia and Mimi Hanis Steadman.
Classroom Research: Implementing the
Scholarship ofTeaching. San Francisco,
lossey-Bass, 1996.
Hutchings, Pat. Making Teaching Community Property: AMenufor Peer Collaboration and Peer Review. Washington, DC:
AAHE,1996.
_ _." sing Cases to Talk About Teaching."AAHEBulletin (April 1994): 6-12.
Palmer, Parker. Tbe Courage to Teacb. San
Francisco: lossey-Bass, 1998.
Richlin, Laurie and Brenda Manning. Improving a College/University Teaching
Evaluation System. Pittsburgh: Alliance
Publishers, 1996.
Seldin, Peter. Tbe Teaching Portfolio. Bolton,
MA: Anker, 1991.
_ _. Tbe Teaching Portfolio, 2nd ed.
Bolton, MA: Anker, 199 .
Weimer, Maryellen. How Am I Teaching?: Forms
andActivitiesfor Acquiring Instructional
Input. Atwood Publishing, 1988.

Editor's Note
Brialljolles is an assistant professor of
tbeater at Indiana Universi()' of
Pennsylvania where be teaches design
courses, (/nd a course on tbe
fundamentals oftheatrical design. He is a
co-director ofIUP's Reflective Practice
Project, an organization ofover 100

Tlus article is published under the guidelines
of TD&Ts juried submission process. It has
undergone blind peer review and has been
judged to meet the highest standards of scholarly writing. Copies of TD&Ts juried article
submission guidelines are available from the
USITT national office.
TZ>&T

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1999